Cats and Dogs

Review by James Anthony

School holidays are on and a great way to get out with the kids is to go to a movie.

Yessiree, hang the expense, mortgage the house, and take them off to the big screen.

The latest outing was to Cats and Dogs, a comedy/sci-fi/action look at how our cute and cuddly animals are actually fighting a war for domination of Earth.

Well, the cats are anyway and their leader Mr Tinkles is evil enough to put his feline mates back on top of humans - as they were in the ancient times.

Standing in their way are dogs, the loyal friends and protectors of people. A top secret canine intelligence agency is protecting a scientist (Jeff Goldblum) who is nearing the end of a project to develop an anti dog-allergy drug.

This, of course, is opposed by the cats who send crack teams of martial arts exponents to stop the professor.

Getting in the way are his wife (Elizabeth Perkins), son (Alexander Pollock) and mistakenly installed puppy Lou - for Loser - voiced by Tobey Maguire.

What follows is an at-times hilarious, but often just ordinary, battle of the house pets that really does have the fur flying in real life, animation and computer-generated imaging.

There are some hilarious moments and the idea is good, but the execution is ordinary. Sometimes you are not sure if you've just forked out $20+ for two tickets to see a big-name movie - or just a home video.

There are some very good names in the voices lineup - including Alec Baldwin, Tobey Maguire, Michael Clarke Duncan, Charlton Heston, Joe Pantoliano, Susan Sarandon, Sean Hayes and Jon Lovitz.

The kids will love it, you'll be looking at your watch after half an hour.

Cats and Dogs
Warner Brothers
Rated: PG.
Australian release: Out now.
Director: Larry Guterman.
Cast: Jeff Goldblum, Elizabeth Perkins, Alexander Pollock, Miriam Margolyes.
Voices: Alec Baldwin, Tobey Maguire, Michael Clarke Duncan, Charlton Heston, Joe Pantoliano, Susan Sarandon, Sean Hayes, Jon Lovitz.
Running time: 87 minutes.
Website: Click here